Once again, it’s gardening season. If you haven’t done so already, it’s time to get those tomato plants in the ground, so you can be enjoying them at your summer barbecues.
While gardening is meant to be a relaxing and rewarding hobby, for many, it can quickly get frustrating when garden pests show up. Whether it’s moles, ground squirrels, gophers, or even birds, garden pests can ruin all of your hard work almost overnight.
If you already know you have garden pests, of course you can call us at Knockout to help you eliminate them, but there are also some things you can do to protect your precious plants from ever becoming a buffet for rodents and birds.
One of the least expensive, yet still effective, ways to keep animals like squirrels or rabbits from eating your plants is to surround them with chicken wire. Chicken wire with holes that are 3/4” or smaller works best. If rabbits are your problem, you can just usually just use the chicken wire at the beginning of the growing season, since once plants are established, rabbits tend to leave them alone. They prefer new, tender growth.
A more effective, but quite a bit more expensive method is to surround your entire garden area with a fence that extends down into the ground at least 6”. This method should keep out squirrels and rabbits.
If birds are your problem, netting is your best option. Birds tend to prefer ripening fruit, so cover those fruit trees and berry bushes a few weeks before your fruit is scheduled to ripen.
Pests that live underground, such as ground squirrels, moles, and gophers are much harder to keep out. You can eliminate one, maybe by using a trap or smoke bomb that you buy in the garden department of your local home improvement store, but there’s usually another one waiting to take its place. The best course of action with underground pests is to call in a professional pest control company as soon as you notice the problem.
What About Garden Pest Deterrents?
Get on the internet, and you’ll find a whole host of ideas about how you can deter pests from your garden. Some will recommend powders that you make from common kitchen ingredients and then sprinkle around your garden. Others will recommend noisemakers or placing fake predators near your plants. The problem with these is that animals are smart. They’ll soon discover how to avoid the powders or ignore the scare devices. If they are effective at all, it’s usually only for a short amount of time.
When to Call in a Professional Pest Control Company
Everyone has a different level of what they’ll tolerate when it comes to garden pests. Some call us out at the first sign of a problem, while others try to take care of it themselves for a while. When garden pests become more than you want to handle on your own, give us a call at Knockout or contact us through our website. We’ll send someone out quickly to diagnose the problem and can then employ multiple prevention and elimination methods to rid your garden pest problem.
